(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a carrier means for carrying a plurality of relatively small objects such as groceries and the like, and a means attachable to a motor vehicle for supporting the carrier for transport, and to their combination.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
It is common for markets selling groceries or other consumer articles to have a number of wheeled carriers or shopping carts nearby for the convenience of shoppers in making their various purchases. A shopper, generally, on entering the store, selects a carrier from a storage area and keeps it with him during the time that he is in the store and making purchases. The shopping cart is pushed up and down the aisles in which various merchandise is stocked on each side and items are selected for purchase and placed in the shopping cart until the shopper is finished shopping. Then the shopper goes to a check-out station at which the various items are checked by a store clerk, the prices rung up on a cash register, and the items bagged to be carried home by the shopper.
Oftentimes, a shopper will have his bagged purchases placed in the shopping cart for convenience in carrying the bags to his automobile for transportation home. Although many shoppers return the shopping cart to the storefront after use, others abandon the carts at random in the vehicle parking area. These abandoned shopping carts become a nuisance to other drivers. Drivers unaware of the presence of these carts often run into the carts with their vehicles, resulting in either damage to the vehicle, or shopping cart, or both. This results in customer complaints and may, in some instances, result in liability by the store owner for damages. Carts that are damaged must be repaired or, if too damaged, replaced with a new one. Furthermore, and of additional expense to the storeowner, shopping carts left in the parking area often are stolen.
To reduce customer complaints, and the expense involved in maintaining an adequate inventory of shopping carts, one or more employees of the storeowner is generally required, periodically, to accumulate all of the abandoned shopping carts in the parking area and return them to the storage area in the store for shopper's use. Otherwise, incoming shoppers are left with no shopping carts by means of which they can carry their purchases. This, too, results in added operational expense, but if not faithfully performed makes for dissatisfied customers.
Not only is there expense to the storeowner resulting from damaged vehicles and damaged and stolen shopping carts, and from the necessity in having the shopping carts periodically accumulated and returned to the store for incoming shoppers, but the store owner must spend a considerable sum each month in maintaining his inventory of shopping carts in proper working order.